Chapter 9

The officer spoke slowly and deliberately.
"Mrs. Hollaway, you'll have to calm down a little...tell me again."
"My baby! He's alive! A cult has him!"
"A...cult, ma'am?"
"Yes! The 'Abby' girl is back! She took him the first time and now she's talked him into leaving again!"

The officer felt genuine confusion. He had never bought into the whole "cult" craze and he had no idea who this "Abby" was. The hysterical woman in front of him was acting as if he should know what that name meant. He sighed. "Great time to be on duty." he thought.

"Can you tell me who "Abby" is?"

Jennifer was losing patience. "The police in this city are morons!"
She picked up the old newspaper clipping off the kitchen table and thrust it at the policemen. He looked at it with a puzzled expression and turned it over to look at the back.

"I'm not sure what this means, ma'am."
"There!" Jennifer pointed to a paragraph.

The policeman saw the blurb about the note left by the killer several years before. It was common knowledge on the force that Jennifer had lost her son to the supposed "cult" and had never stopped bugging them about it since. He understood that she would be upset of course...but he also knew she was often drunk when she called the station at odd hours to present a new theory about where her son was. Now she had gotten up early to invent a new story about some cult member kidnapping her boy. "Great time to be on duty." he suppressed a smile as he repeated the thought.

"So you're saying this 'Abby' has come back and taken your son away who has been missing for two years?"
"Yes...well...no...he came back with her...and they left early this morning for no good reason."
"So they came back...and then left."
"Yes!"
"Ma'am...we don't know anything about this 'Abby' in the paper. That was just a note he wrote. He was a crazy man...probably invented her out of thin air and decided to join her by jumping out the window."

Jennifer shook her head.
"You don't think it's strange that another 'Abby' shows up with Owen?" she almost was pleading now.
"Well ma'am, coincidences happen all the time."

Jennifer sat at her kitchen table brooding. As usual, the police would not listen. "They think they know so much...but they never found Owen, did they?"
She angrily repeated the cop's last words, "We'll be on the look-out for them, ma'am." She knew he was just trying to get rid of her.

She tried to calm herself. A quick glance at the bottle of wine on the table caused her to shake her head. "No! Not today! Must stay alert! Owen said he would come back..." Jennifer paced back and forth for a while before going into the living room to turn on the TV.

"I'm telling you...it was two little kids!"
James looked at his tenant with amusement.
"Really Brian? Two little kids showed up and busted your door in?"
"Yes!"
"Anyone else see these super kids?"
"You make it sound like I'm crazy, James."
James smiled wider.
"Do I?"

James had always liked Brian. He kept out of trouble, had a good sense of humor, and was always willing to share a beer or two. That's why James had given Brian the first shot at this apartment when Jennifer Hollaway moved out. James wasn't sure what had gone on last night, but he knew it probably wasn't a couple of 12 year old kids that had busted up Brian's door like that. The thing was practically sawdust.

James raised his hands.
"Ok man...whatever...it's cool. Just buy a new door and we'll forget about it."
Brian grumbled. So much for James believing him.
"Fine!"
Brian stomped into his apartment and would have slammed the door in James' face...but of course there was no door to slam. Once inside, he collapsed on his couch and sulked.
"I'm going to get that little cunt and her boyfriend. They took me by surprise before. She needs to be taught a lesson."

His fingers found the pistol wedged in between the cushions of the couch.
"Yeah...we'll see how she likes it when I'm in charge."

"You up?" Owen asked.
"Of course, silly...if you're up, I'm up." Abby answered.

Owen pinched Abby on the arm. She yelped in fake outrage and pain.
"You'd better stop!" She kicked Owen out of the burrow for emphasis. He rolled out laughing.

Both stood and brushed themselves off.
"Weird how we never have to stretch or yawn when we wake up." Owen remarked absently.
Abby had not thought of such things in a long time. A warm feeling for Owen filled her. It was things like that which made her feel alive again. For Owen, it was all still new. She moved to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Did I say something stupid and obvious again?"
"No...it's a good thing to notice that. I had forgotten."
Owen smiled.
"Well...it is weird...trust me."

Abby pulled Owen's old shirt over her head and tied it around her waist.
"Let's go see your mother."
Owen did the same with his shirt and they were off into the sky within moments.

Jennifer was, in spite of her best intentions, very drunk. She had waited all day for Owen to return. After breaking down sobbing several times, the bottle was her only respite. Now it was dark. She vaguely recalled Owen saying something about returning at night.

A knock on the door startled her. Jennifer jumped to her feet.
"Owen?"
"Yes Mom." The muffled voice answered.

Jennifer threw the door open. There stood Owen...with...that girl. Both were filthy. Jennifer could only spare a momentary glare at Abby before grabbing Owen in a tight embrace.
"Oh my baby! Promise me you won't leave again!"

Owen returned his mother's hug and looked at Abby. She looked very uncomfortable.
"Mom...let's go inside."

They filed into the trailer home. Abby paused at the door to make sure. She had gotten a bad vibe from Owen's mother. That brief look had held real menace. But Abby was able to enter unimpeded. The "rules" on entering a home were never easy to pin down .

Jennifer led Owen to the couch and sat down with him, kissing him and whispering to him. Abby sat opposite them on a wooden chair, keeping quiet. Listening.
"Owen! You have to get rid of her! She's in that satanic cult that killed those boys at the pool!"
Owen's eyes widened. He looked at Abby...who had of course heard every word clearly.
"Mom! That's not true!"

Jennifer straightened up and looked directly at Abby with hate in her eyes.
"I would like to speak with my son alone...if you don't mind!"

Abby said nothing. She stood slowly and stepped out of the front door into the night air. The door slammed behind her. Abby heard night sounds. A car horn in the distance. At her feet, she heard a beetle crawling past. Without even trying, she could hear the conversation in the house clearly.

"Mom! That's rude! Abby is nice...she's the nicest person I know!"
"You don't understand Owen...she has you brainwashed! It's all part of what cults do!"
"That's not true, Mom! Abby helped me get away...you don't understand!"
"Owen look at the paper...the man that killed those boys...drained their blood...he was with a girl named 'Abby'!"

Silence.

"Mom...I can't explain. You just have to believe me. Abby is good. She cares about me. I...I love her."
Jennifer straightened.
"Owen...I hate to do this...but I forbid you to see her again! Go tell her to leave and never come back! She's not welcome here!"

Silence once more.

The door opened. Owen stepped out crying. Jennifer was behind him also crying.
"Owen...please believe me...you must listen...she is evil..."
"Evil." Owen thought. How little that word meant to him now. He turned to face his mother.

"Mom...I'm sorry...I'm going with Abby. I can't tell you why."
"No! Owen! Please!" Jennifer staggered out of the trailer now. Neighbors in adjacent trailers, long used to her drunken disturbances, merely rolled their eyes and turned up their TVs.

Owen crossed quickly to Abby and looked at her with apologetic eyes. The sound of his mother's sobbing filled his ears.
"I'm sorry Abby! I...didn't want this to happen."
Abby embraced him and whispered into his ear.
"It's ok Owen...I..."

A new sound made them both turn quickly to face his mother.

"Hello kids...being mean to your mother, you little shit?"

It was the man from the apartment. Owen snarled at him and was about to pounce when he noticed the gun. The man was standing beside his mother with the gun pointed at her head. Both Owen and Abby silently cursed themselves for letting their guard down. They should have heard him...they should have smelled him...so many neighbors making noises...so much emotion to distract.

"Just relax you little bastard. No more tricks from you two."